Vanilla Twilight
by Monochrome Masquerade
Summary: DATR-Dib has ended up in the insane asylum, while Tak was put back on planet Dirt. They realize that even though the whole Valentine's Day thing was a wreck, they may have had it good. SONGFIC. Rated T for language and character death.


_Hello creatures of Mars, Key has come to smack you in the face with some more DATR, because she can't stop writing it. It's addicting. The gist of how I came up with this is, I had this song stuck in my head for quite a long time. Most Owl City songs remind me of Dib because of their day-dreamy nature, but then when I got to thinking, "Just how am I going to encorporate Tak in this?" I thought for a while, then decided to stick her back on planet Dirt. Dib's in the Crazy House for Crazy Boys (Is that what they called it in the show? I forget.) because nobody likes him. Read on, man, read on._

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><p><em>The stars lean down to kiss you<em>  
><em>And I lie awake and miss you<em>  
><em>Pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere...<em>  
><em>'Cause I'll doze off safe and soundly<em>  
><em>But I'll miss your arms around me<em>  
><em>I'd send a postcard to you, dear<em>  
><em>'Cause I wish you were here...<em>

It must've been months now. Maybe even a year or two. Dib had lost track of time. He wasn't quite sure what he was so freaked out over. I mean, he'd been there before, right? Yes...on the worst Halloween ever. When he had gotten sucked into the darkest corners of his mind, making him wonder if he really did belong in the insane asylum. Now that Dib had been there so long, he knew he didn't.

Zim WAS an alien. Why was it so hard, so fucking hard, for his neighbors to see? They threw him in a padded cell for the remainder of his life for being smart enough to know the truth. Gaz knew too, but she was still free. It was because she was oblivious to the danger of Zim's presence. He was like salt to the Earth, destroying it from the inside. Did Gaz care? Did anyone care? No.

Tak had cared. "That doesn't count," Dib muttered. "She acted like she cared, then attempted to kill you and destroy your planet." Still, Dib felt like he wouldn't mind seeing her again. The very thought of her brought out the xenophile in him. Her lime green narrow face, her depthless violet eyes and the sneaky, zippered smile she almost always wore...Tak aroused Dib like none other. It was strange to him that he could love someone that tried (and almost succeeded) to wipe out the human race. "Maybe I do belong here," Dib grumbled.

Still, Dib would sell his soul for one last day with Tak, even if it was in Hell. He wanted to be with her, to feel her heart beat right next to his.

_I'll watch the night turn light blue_  
><em>But it's not the same without you<em>  
><em>Because it takes two to whisper quietly...<em>  
><em>The silence isn't so bad<em>  
><em>'Till I look at my hands and feel sad<em>  
><em>'Cause the spaces between my fingers are right where yours fit perfectly...<em>

Tak stabbed her mop into the bucket of water, swishing it around violently before applying it to the ground _again_. The ground here was always dirty. Everything was always grimy. Why did it _need _cleaning, anyway? It's not like anyone was going to use it for anything. It was all Zim's fault. After her defeat, she had retreated back to Irk to report to her Tallests. The twin assholes sent her back to planet Dirt. _For the remainder of her freaking life_. Apparently they were pissed that she didn't defeat Zim as she promised. To quote Red, she had "let them down." Just one tiny fluke ended her up in this craphole for the rest of her existence.

Having a friend, or even a lover would make this so much more bearable. Tak leaned her mop up against some unidentifiable junk, laying down on the ground. It was _hot_ here, and she was tired. She hadn't slept in a few days, for she had been working non-stop. Irkens don't need sleep to live normally, but it is needed if you are a heavy worker. Tak was, she concluded as she wiped the sweat off her forehead.

Tak coughed as a sudden wind sent dust into her mouth. Sighing as she realized a windstorm was picking up, she trudged away to find shelter. By the time she found a dip in the ground that was out of the wind, she was nearly blinded and was sputtering. "I hate my life," she said hoarsely, curling up in the hole and trying to rub the sand out of her eyes.

Her hands, they were the most valuable tools she had on Dirt. Of course, it's because it's extremely time-consuming to mop the floor with your feet. Tak had realized something in the few years she had been back on this wretched planet- she loved Dib, and it would feel so much nicer if he was here right now, merely holding her hand. That's all she asked, and of course she would never get it.

_I'll find repose in new ways_  
><em>Though I haven't slept in two days<em>  
><em>'Cause cold nostalgia chills me to the bone...<em>  
><em>But drenched in vanilla twilight<em>  
><em>I'll sit on the front porch all night<em>  
><em>Waist-deep in thought because when I think of you, I don't feel so alone...<em>  
><em>I don't feel so alone...<em>  
><em>I don't feel so alone...<em>  
><em>As many times as I blink, I'll think of you tonight<em>  
><em>I'll think of you tonight...<em>

"Where are you now?" the human boy in the loony bin and the irken girl galaxies away asked simultaneously.

Dib stared out the small window in the door. He'd do anything to get out of here right now. His arms felt numb from being crossed in front of him for so long, pinned there by the straitjacket he was forced to wear. He didn't need it. He wasn't crazy. Well, maybe he was a little, but history's greats were a tad bit insane. Dib tried to cheer himself up a little. "Maybe you'll be like Galileo," he told himself. "Sure, everyone hates you now, but maybe years after you're dead, people will know what you've known."

After he was dead, he'd be with Tak.

The very thought made Dib suicidal, something uncharacteristic of him. He was never getting out of here. There was nothing he could do about it now.

"What's he talking to himself about now?" he heard one of the guards say. "Galileo, and some girl," the other one answered. "Crazy," the first one humphed. They obviously had no clue what Dib had been put through his whole life.

"Service Drone 674! No slacking off!" a rough voice came, followed by a sharp prod in the side. "Sorry sir," Tak rasped, scrambling to her feet. The wind had died down by now. "'Sorry' doesn't clean anything," the supervisor retorted. "Fat bitch," Tak muttered, dragging her feet wearily away.

_When violet eyes get brighter_  
><em>And heavy wings grow lighter<em>  
><em>I'll taste the sky and feel alive again...<em>  
><em>And I'll forget the world that I knew<em>  
><em>But I swear I won't forget you<em>  
><em>If my voice could reach back through the past<em>  
><em>I'd whisper in your ear<em>  
><em>"Oh, darling, I wish you were here..."<em>

Dib curled up in a ball, frustrated and tired. He'd rather be with Tak. Humans were stupid. They labeled him "crazy" and stuck him in a padded cell. Zim could obliterate Earth for all he cared anymore. Life meant nothing to him if he couldn't be happy. "Tak, I wish you were here," he murmured, on the verge of tears.

Tak stared at one of the five suns desperately. It was too hot to be working outside with no shelter. She hadn't eaten or slept properly in a long time. Finally giving in, Tak let her legs give out and she fell, face-forward, into the dirt. She had never surrendered to anything before. This felt weird. If she wasn't on the brink of death, she would feel foolish and weak. But all she felt was the thought the she wanted out, and this was the way. Tak turned herself over and shut her eyes, letting death slowly take her. She'd be out of this nightmare soon enough. Slipping into the great blackness, Tak's skin grew cold and she stopped breathing. The last thing she said was, "Dib, I wish you were here."

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><p><em>I KILLED TAK! I feel so guilty. She's got to be my third favorite character (before her come Gaz and Dib). I'm cruel to her. Apparentely my reviewers of <span>We All Fall Down<span> want her to get the gorey, nasty end I've planned for someone else... o_O. Creepyness aside, thanks for reading and please review!_


End file.
